Map of Rowan County, North Carolina, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Rowan Undercover
♦Voting is both a right and a responsibility. To hear the Rowan Concerned Citizens tell it, Republicans will go to any length, from poll taxes to literacy tests, from outright intimidation and blocking polling places, to keep minorities from voting. Because exercising this right is so vital, they argue, great efforts must be taken to register anyone and everyone and ensure every single vote is counted to keep our Democracy thriving. However, in no way, shape, or form should the simple requirement necessary in purchasing a pack of cigarettes, cashing a check, or attending the Democratic National Convention – specifically, showing valid photo ID – be considered. The blatant hypocrisy and duplicity apparent in this double standard would be laughable were it not so serious. When the Rowan Concerned Citizens launch into their standard “racist” diatribe against vote ID, Republicans revert to whiny defensiveness and play the “I-have-black-friends” card. What needs to be stated is the obvious: the ONLY reason someone would protest so vehemently against such simple common sense standards of ensuring voter integrity as the photo ID is because they want to defraud honest voters and steal elections. There is no other possible conclusion and the ridiculous arguments against Voter ID laws show this as the illegal farce it is.
One such argument is: “There is no evidence voter fraud even exists.” How can such a statement be used as a credible cover? It makes as much sense as removing the Highway Patrol from Interstate 85 and then proclaiming there is no evidence of speeding. Voter fraud is often difficult to pinpoint and prosecute due to the determined dishonesty of those who practice it and the legal roadblocks set in place by politicians who profit from it. The eyewitness testimony of election observers and undercover video of precinct judges and other officials detailing massive voter fraud in our state proves it does exist and that simple requirements such as Voter ID would go a long ways toward stopping it.
Another argument plays the emotional race card. We are bombarded with the story of the mythical 98-year-old African American woman who has somehow managed to live a long satisfying life participating in a multitude of community activities and receiving the benefits of various social programs while never once acquiring a valid photographic ID. (I myself heard this same story very solemnly recounted at a recent Rowan Concerned Citizens meeting to discuss this topic.) It seems that surely the same leftwing groups that are so passionate about helping the poor take advantage of every aspect of the public welfare safety net would do everything possible to see to it that these poor disenfranchised potential voters are in compliance with Voter ID laws. (This exact solution was suggested by a fellow attendee at the meeting – but was immediately shot down by the RCC facilitators who brought the discussion back to supposed rampant racism in the electoral system.)
The great lengths the Rowan Concerned Citizens will go to in order to stop Voter ID laws is evidence of their inordinate fear of not being able to legitimately win an election. The one and only time the Left will bemoan the spending of tax payer dollars is when it comes to implementing such a law. The recent lawsuit filed against the state of North Carolina by the Obama Department of Justice against our new Voter ID laws shows that those in power have no qualms in disenfranchising legitimate voters and allowing lawlessness to continue.
So how does the left “find” these votes? Since practically no effort is made to be certain the integrity of the voter rolls is legitimate, it all comes down to a numbers game. Rowan County has been specifically targeted by Acorn groups such as Rowan Concerned Citizens because of its high differential between Presidential election years (in some cases over 60%) compared to off-season elections (anywhere from 6-11%). It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that it would only take a swing of a relatively handful of votes to turn any local election. This plan has already been successfully implemented by Democrats in the once solidly red state of Colorado, and this same group, now known as Blueprint NC, is now actively working in our state, Rowan County, and the city of Salisbury. Democrats have determined that the best places to secure names to place on voter registration forms is from among the more transient sector that lives in public housing, the temporary residents of college campuses, the illegal immigrant population, and from local obituary lists. Rowan County has an abundance of just these sort of “citizens.”
Because the residents of public housing tend to move more frequently and often fail to report changes in living status to government agencies (including election officials), they are more difficult to pinpoint through voter records. Purely by coincidence, the local fringe branch of Democracy NC, which goes by the name Rowan Concerned Citizens is now (according to recent emails and online postings to its members) targeting “six housing areas to canvas – Civic Apts, Zion Hills, Pine Hills, Brookview, Clancy Hills, Fairview Heights, and Lafayette” in efforts at “registering voters and educate on why to vote in your local elections.” How many of these newly registered voters will still be living in the same voting precincts at the time of the next election? How many of these newly registered voters will update their information when/if they move to a new precinct? That’s not the concern of leftwing voter registration organizations. All that is important to them is to get a name on a registration form. Once a name is registered, it is easy to find a mail-in ballot or a warm body to cast a vote for that citizen. This is why in recent national elections, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Adolf Hitler have all registered to vote through Acorn headed voter registration drives. If they will turn in such obviously fraudulent voter registration forms, why would they have any qualms about committing voter fraud?
Salisbury’s three colleges (Catawba, Livingstone, and RCCC) provide nearly 10,000 total target voters. If these students are registered to vote in another district, county, or even state, they can potentially (illegally) vote in both our local elections as well as their own home polling stations. All that is required is that they be registered here. This is why the NC Legislature has rejected college issued ID as a valid form of identification for voting purposes – and why the Democrats are fighting this common sense law.
Even death cannot stop a determined Democrat voter. Because voter rolls are not carefully purged and updated, no one knows how many of those who once registered are now dearly departed. As long as a name is still listed on a voter roll, there is no way to stop someone, anyone, from walking into a polling place, claiming they are indeed that individual, and voting in the name of the decedent. To give an extreme example, if an Hispanic man turned up at a polling place claiming to be Essie May Gump, aged 127, there would be no way (short of a Voter ID) to legally disprove his claim and keep him from casting a vote.
Groups like Democracy NC, Blueprint NC, and Rowan Concerned Citizens are determined to register as many new voters as possible and get them (or someone claiming to be them) to vote in our local elections. As of last month’s election, there were 20,951 registered voters in Salisbury, and only 2,815 of them cast ballots. Salisbury’s mayor Woodson was reelected to his position by only 23 votes. A swing of only a relative handful of votes could sway any local election. When I shared these concerns recently with a fellow Republican, he laughed derisively and stated confidently, “Well, that’s NOT going to happen.” Well, my fellow Republicans, Rowan Concerned Citizens and their fellow Acorn-groups seem to feel very confident that it can happen – and they are doing everything within their power to make it happen.
